Jim Rathmann, winner of the 1960 Indianapolis 500, passed away just before Thanksgiving in Palm Bay, Florida, a week after suffering a stroke. He was 83.
Rathmann was one of racing’s true Speed Demons. The faster the competition the better he seemed to like it. At Indianapolis, where he won one of history’s most memorable 500s after a stirring race-long duel with Rodger Ward, he also scored three runner-up placings and finished in the top 10 for half of his 14 starts. When USAC took the Indycars to Monza for the famous Race of Two Worlds, Rathmann emerged as the winner on the daunting high banks of the big Italian oval in 1958, where the average speed for the three heats was 166.722 mph at a time when the single-lap record at Indy (set by his brother) was just under 146. When the Indycars made their only appearance at Daytona International Speedway the following spring it was Rathmann who won both heats of the accident-marred race with an average speed of just over 170 mph.
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